Cats' Cauley-Stein Just Scratching The Surface

Cats' Cauley-Stein Just Scratching The Surface

John Calipari says Kentucky freshman Willie Cauley-Stein has no idea how good he's going to be because he's just now only focusing on basketball.

John Calipari says Kentucky freshman Willie Cauley-Stein has no idea how good he's going to be because he's just now only focusing on basketball.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - John Calipari never saw Willie Cauley-Stein play basketball in high school, not in person. The Kentucky coach saw the 7-footer from Kansas play football. One on visit, Calipari caught Cauley-Stein with a tennis racquet.

That led Calipari to ask Cauley-Stein if he ever actually played basketball.

Cauley-Stein was rated as the 40th best prospect in the nation by Rivals.com coming out of high school. But he says he never focused much on basketball.

Calipari says now that Cauley-Stein has been on campus for more than eight weeks - training and eating right - there is a noticeable difference in the freshman's physical appearance and mindset, which has translated onto the court.